Akiteru Tsukishima
is a former student of Karasuno High School and the older brother of Kei Tsukishima. Appearance He has short blond hair and brown eyes. Akiteru stands at 185.2 cm, just a few centimeters shorter than his younger brother. He also has a medium build. He has a friendly demeanor (rather contrasting his brother's appearance). Personality Akiteru is shown to be kind and determined, as seen in flashbacks where he stays behind to practice on his own. He is motivational to others and always appears cheerful, only letting out his frustration when he's alone. He was described as having a dauntless spirit. He's also a bit teasing, especially with Kei, and Akaizawa, who he loves to rile up. Background In middle school, Akiteru was the captain and ace of the Amemaru volleyball club. He later graduated to Karasuno High and joined the volleyball club there; the Small Giant joined about a year after Akiteru did. Akiteru practiced hard all the time and would even stay behind everyone else just to get in a little more training, but he never got to be a starting player. This greatly frustrated Akiteru; in Kei's flashbackChapter 87, Akiteru is seen trashing his room apart and knocking down his old volleyball trophies. However, because Kei looked up to his brother so much, Akiteru didn't have the courage to tell Kei. He continued to lie to his brother until one day Kei showed up to a Karasuno match and found Akiteru in the bleachers. Plot Tokyo Expedition Arc Akiteru first appears in Tanaka's flashback of his sister talking to him about how Akiteru was on the same team as the Small Giant. Sometime later, as Kei's going through his change, he thinks of Akiteru and the agony he went through in high school. Kei remembers his brother tearing his room apart in anger and reveals that he'd learned from Akiteru's experience to never put in so much effort for a simple sport like volleyball. After the summer camp ends Chapter 98, the day before the Spring High Preliminaries, Kei comes home from practice to find his brother there. Akiteru comments on how much Kei has grown and how he surpassed him a long time ago. The two go outside to talk and it's revealed that Kei hasn't talked to Akiteru in a while, and that when Akiteru is home, he holes himself up in his room unless it's mealtime. Akiteru asks Kei about his trip to Tokyo. Akiteru reveals to his brother that he has a volleyball team and goes to tournaments as well. Akiteru adds on that he still plays because of what happened in high school. About how he already knows what makes volleyball fun, about that great feeling of having your spike go through and the pride from the cheers of others. He tells Kei he wants to be somewhere where he can give his all until he's satisfied, and Kei smiles at that. Akiteru then asks Kei about his matches, and Kei replies that he's only a regular because of his height. Akiteru scolds him and tells him that his height is something to be proud of. Spring High Preliminary Arc When Akiteru tells Kei he thought about going to watch his matches, Kei gives him a sour look, which might've stopped Akiteru from going to the early games. After the preliminaries, Akiteru asks Kei about how the match went and what the opponents were like when the latter comes home. After hearing Kei's almost defeatist attitude towards the first year who was over 2m tall, believing a loss was inevitable against someone like that, Akiteru invites Kei to practice with his team sometime. Kei eventually takes him up on his offer. At training, Kei goes against an older guy named Akaizawa who teases him, to which Akiteru challenges him by saying "My little brother will be knocking down your spikes before you know it, you'll see." Eventually, Kei is able to block Akaizawa, which annoys the latter and amazes Akiteru. Before the play-offs in October, Akiteru gives Kei sports glasses as a gift, as well as encouraging words. Kei thinks of these before he puts his sports glasses on to play. Despite Kei telling Akiteru to not attend his matches, the latter sneaks into the Shiratorizawa vs Karasuno match with a disguise onChapter 150. Saeko quickly spots him and exposes his disguise though, causing Kei to glare at his brother from the court. Akiteru manages to duck from sight, however, so whether Kei is fully aware Akiteru is there or not is unknown. Akiteru then sits with Shimada, Takinoue, Yachi, and Saeko and cheers on Karasuno. During the announcements for the starting lineups for Shiratorizawa and Karasuno, Saeko calls out Kei's name when he's announced for Akiteru and Akiteru whispers at her to stop, out of fear that his brother might notice him there. As the game starts, Akiteru explains to Saeko before the match starts that Karasuno will have to play five sets and starts worrying about the team. Saeko quickly exclaims that they can't lose faith already. Karasuno has trouble against Ushijima initially. Akiteru explains to Saeko why and also stands up for his brother when a spectator insults him by shooting the latter a dirty look. Akiteru explains to Saeko that it's hard for Nishinoya to receive a ball hit by a lefty compared to a righty due to the difference in ball rotation, what Nishinoya is used to, and how the slightest bit of difference will produce a huge shift. When Saeko and Yachi express concern about facing a left-handed spiker with those who are used to instinctively reacting to "righties," Akiteru tells them that Kei, at least isn't the sort of player who acts on instinct because he doesn't trust in his own strength or senses. Saeko scolds him for saying such a thing about his brother, but Akiteru says he means it in a good way because the only thing he trusts is the information he has in front of himChapter 153. When Kei manages to block Ushijima for the first time, Akiteru is proud beyond all belief. However, what really made him cry was seeing Kei finally fit in with his team when they all cheered for him. Later on into the game, when Shirabu messes up and allows Kei to block UshijimaChapter 164, Akiteru explains that Shirabu's toss was off, but it's just a hunch. It's explained by Ukai that Tsukishima caused the disruption in the toss on purpose, but implied Akiteru must have explained the same thing to Saeko. Yachi then goes on to say that Kei always seems like he's thinking about things, in both volleyball and life in general. Akiteru apologizes for his little brother's eccentricities, which others may find weird but inwardly blames himself for it. However Yachi explains that just now, Tsukishima must have only been thinking about stopping that one spike single-mindedly, as if solving a difficult question on a test. Akiteru thoughtfully agrees. During a time-out in the 3rd set, Akiteru and Saeko overhear a spectator saying that it really is impossible for Karasuno. Akiteru explains that Karasuno is just as good when it comes to offensive power, they just need to somehow pull off a break. As Shimada and Akiteru are explaining Kawanishi's blocking tactic to Saeko during a time-out in the 4th set, their old coach Ukai shows upChapter 168, telling them they should've put that level of thought into their plays all along. Akiteru, Shimada and Takinoue greet their old coach with fear. Statistics Akiteru was the ace of his team during middle school, but he didn't make it to the first string in high school. Relationships Kei Tsukishima Kei is his younger brother who is currently in Karasuno's Volleyball Club. Kei looked up to Akiteru when he was younger, and Akiteru is the reason for both Kei's initial interest in volleyball and current bitter attitude towards it. Akiteru is very caring towards Kei and often taught his brother volleyball skills in his free time. When Kei found out his brother wasn't even a starting member, he was devastated and started distancing himself from his brother. Whenever Akiteru comes home from college, Kei locks himself up in his room until dinnertime. However, despite his cold attitude, Kei cares for his older brother greatly as he acts less sarcastic and rude when he's with Akiteru. Akiteru is very supportive and encouraging of Kei, always believing in him. He even gave him sports glasses as a gift. Akiteru can also seem to read Kei and tell what he's thinking or if he's lying, even now despite the years of distance. Since the summer camp arc, the brothers have started moving towards each other again. Small Giant Akiteru was on the same team as the Small Giant during high school, but the Small Giant was younger than him and they didn't know each other personally; though, Akiteru has stated once that in high school, he was bitter over the fact that "younger players" were put on the court as regulars instead of him. Akiteru also remembers how the Small Giant plays and compares him to Hinata, commenting that Hinata really is a "small giant." Saeko Tanaka They went to Karasuno High at the same time, though Akiteru was one year higher. Despite not being on the volleyball team and not knowing him personally, Saeko knows that Akiteru was a member and still remembers him. During the Shiratorizawa vs Karasuno match, Saeko spotted a suspiciously dressed Akiteru and dragged him to Shimada and Takinoue, calling him a spy from Shiratorizawa. After the misunderstanding was cleared up, Akiteru stayed with Saeko and explained volleyball tactics to her throughout the match. Gō Akaizawa Akaizawa is the oldest member of Akiteru's current team, the Kaji Wild Dogs. Akiteru claims he loves riling him up. Akiteru challenges Akaizawa with his little brother, telling him that Kei will be knocking down his spikes before he knows it and in the 5th light novel, that his little brother hates to lose. In the 5th light novel he describes Akaizawa as an annoying old man, but someone who likes to be relied upon and is a good senpai at heart. He asks Akaizawa advice on where to find sports glasses for Kei. Tadashi Yamaguchi While they haven't interacted in canon so far, it is implied that they do know each other. Yamaguchi refers to him as "Akiteru-kun." Akiteru calls him "Tadashi" and knows he's his little brother's only friend. Akiteru was also the indirect reason his little brother and Yamaguchi became friends. Yamaguchi was also there when Kei found out the truth about Akiteru, because he came with Kei as he wanted to see Akiteru play for the first time. Yamaguchi is also aware that Kei's "Pathetic" at that time was not directed at Akiteru. Trivia * Current Concern: He's not used to drinking sake. * Favorite Food: Wasabi leaves in soy sauce * His birthday is the day Hachiko the dog died. Interestingly enough, Yamaguchi's birthday is Hachiko's birthday. * Akiteru is the youngest member of his volleyball team the "Kaji Wild Dogs" (stated in the 5th Light Novel) * He works in an office, although it is unknown as what (stated in the 5th Light Novel). * His star sign is Pisces. * Nomenclature: ** Akiteru (明光) - Clear/Bright Light ** Tsukishima (月島) - Moon Island Quotes *"But I already knew what makes volleyball "fun", about that great feeling when your spike goes through, and the pride that comes from others' cheers." (To Kei Tsukishima, Chapter 98) References }} Category:Characters Category:Male Characters Category:Wing Spikers